Lovell A. Lesure was born around 1827 in West Boylston, Massachusetts, to Simeon and Hope Lesure. By 1850, he was working as a blacksmith in Worcester, Massachusetts. He married Julia M. Walker on May 4, 1852, and they had at least two children: Caroline, born around 1860; and Waldo, born around 1867. They also adopted a child named Herbert, who was born around 1849. They lived in West Boylston, and by 1860, he owned $1,100 of real estate.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 12, 1862, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company G of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry on August 27. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the siege of Jackson, the Knoxville campaign, the Overland Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He mustered out on June 18, 1865.
Lesure returned to West Boylston after the war and resumed his work as a blacksmith. By 1870, he owned $2,800 of real estate and $400 of personal property. His wife died in 1883, and he married Sarah Smith on September 1, 1890. He applied for a federal pension in April 1891 and eventually secured one. Sarah died in 1907, and he passed away in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1916.